(Original post by Dandie12)
Just out of curiosity, why can't he apply to Oxbridge?

Oxford like a high % of A* at GCSE and the 2As, the B and the C will pull that down to what i feel will not be a competitive score. Cambridge is based on AS UMS, so it depends but they want a mad BMAT, its dependant for Cambridge but always risky. I also tend to group the two as one, he will have a much better shot at Cambridge than oxford but its always a big risk.

Edinburgh is absolutely ridiculous in terms of what you need to score enough for an offer.

Haha I applied to all the wrong unis last year considering my stats. I had an average UKCAT, good academics and no clinical WE. Yet, like an ignorant fool, I applied to Newcastle, Nottingham, Cardiff and Keele. Hopefully, this time I'll make choices suited for me. :P

(Original post by Nikita Verma)
Haha I applied to all the wrong unis last year considering my stats. I had an average UKCAT, good academics and no clinical WE. Yet, like an ignorant fool, I applied to Newcastle, Nottingham, Cardiff and Keele. Hopefully, this time I'll make choices suited for me. :P

All newcastle care about is the UKCAT, so with an average UKCAT it would be very hard to get an interview.
Nottingham add together academics, UKCAT and personal statement pre interview to form a score and again with an average UKCAT and no clinical work experience the score will have been lower.
Keele want loads of voluntary work and clinical experience.
Cardiff want 8A* and 1A grades to include core subjects at GCSE (that was for 2016 entry and it does change)

(Original post by Natalierm2707)
All newcastle care about is the UKCAT, so with an average UKCAT it would be very hard to get an interview.
Nottingham add together academics, UKCAT and personal statement pre interview to form a score and again with an average UKCAT and no clinical work experience the score will have been lower.
Keele want loads of voluntary work and clinical experience.
Cardiff want 8A* and 1A grades to include core subjects at GCSE (that was for 2016 entry and it does change)

Dandie12: That's exactly why they were bad choices FOR ME last year. They are all fantastic universities, it's just about carefully picking the ones where your chances of getting in are high. Since my stats have changed now, I might re-apply to 2 of them.

Dandie12: That's exactly why they were bad choices FOR ME last year. They are all fantastic universities, it's just about carefully picking the ones where your chances of getting in are high. Since my stats have changed now, I might re-apply to 2 of them.

Anyone here got any idea if the requirements for IGCSEs is the same as GCSEs? My school only offered 7 :/

4 A* in Chemistry, Biology, Physics and English
3 A in Maths Business and Arabic

AS levels in Chemistry Biology Maths and Physics. A*A*AA predicted grades overall. Still haven't sat for the UKCAT but I'm hoping I don't mess up too bad and get a good score to make up for my lack of IGs.

Hoping to study medicine in Scotland at the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen. I finally managed to get some volunteering work at the local hospital so I'll start sometime this month. Doctors where I live don't like to be shadowed, nor do the hospitals allow teenagers to help in nursing homes.

Not doing too well with my Personal Statement as I have nothing to write about the skills I've learnt in a hospital setting or the daily life of a doctor.
I'm a bit behind and envy all of you here for managing to do so much. Congratulations though! Hope it all goes well!

(Original post by PavelAndro)
Anyone here got any idea if the requirements for IGCSEs is the same as GCSEs? My school only offered 7 :/

4 A* in Chemistry, Biology, Physics and English
3 A in Maths Business and Arabic

AS levels in Chemistry Biology Maths and Physics. A*A*AA predicted grades overall. Still haven't sat for the UKCAT but I'm hoping I don't mess up too bad and get a good score to make up for my lack of IGs.

Hoping to study medicine in Scotland at the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen. I finally managed to get some volunteering work at the local hospital so I'll start sometime this month. Doctors where I live don't like to be shadowed, nor do the hospitals allow teenagers to help in nursing homes.

Not doing too well with my Personal Statement as I have nothing to write about the skills I've learnt in a hospital setting or the daily life of a doctor.
I'm a bit behind and envy all of you here for managing to do so much. Congratulations though! Hope it all goes well!

P.S. Any advice is highly appreciated I am dying on the inside

Hi PavelAndro

That is great that you have some volunteering work coming up!

Universities do understand that not everyone has access to the same opportunities when it comes to work experience and they are more interested in what you gain from the experience rather than how long you are there for or how many different types of placements you have. It's really important to bear this in mind when you are doing your work experience.

Having the ability to reflect maturely about your experience will really help to strengthen your application.

It is a good idea to have some questions in mind to think about while you are there. Try to observe what a normal day is like for a doctor and how this varies at different levels of seniority? Or what are the stresses that doctors are under and what strategies did you notice them using to cope?

You might like to have a read of this blog, which is about work experience and has some more tips for things to consider and reflect on.

I hope you find that useful. Do let me know if you have any questions... always happy to help.

Hey guys, I'm a third year at HYMS - if you have any questions about HYMS or Medicine in general i'm happy to try and help I can also try and help with any application advice but I'm probably a little out of date now!!

(Original post by g.k.galloway)
Hey guys, I'm a third year at HYMS - if you have any questions about HYMS or Medicine in general i'm happy to try and help I can also try and help with any application advice but I'm probably a little out of date now!!

Good luck to all of you - it's worth all the effort I promise!!!

Am i right in thinking that HYMS is very PBL? What's that like? Do you ever feel that your teaching yourself? What is a PBL session like?

(Original post by Gogregg)
Am i right in thinking that HYMS is very PBL? What's that like? Do you ever feel that your teaching yourself? What is a PBL session like?

You would be correct, PBL makes up the foundation of the course at HYMS. I was very dubious about it myself before first year began, but after two years of doing it I can say it works very well.
Each week we have two sessions. During the first we explore a couple of patient cases (usually patients presenting to a GP) and brainstorm what we know. From this we come up with a set of learning outcomes (ones about physiology, pharmacology, pathophysiology...etc). We then have the weekend and a couple more days to answer these learning outcomes. We do this using lectures, teaching sessions and our own reading.
The second session then involves the group feeding back what they've found out, discussing anything we are unsure of and getting a full grasp of the topic.
What we've learnt is then used on the week's clinical placement session with real patients.

It may sound complicated and completely foreign but you get used to it very quickly. Also, because HYMS uses it as the main basis for the learning it is very well done (compared to unis that may just use it a little)

So i've enjoyed it and would certainly not be afraid of universities that use it in their course

I see where you think this may be a really good idea, but it will be in no way representative of the population taking the UKCAT worldwide and hence may lead to inflated averages and candidates underestimating their average scores (ive seen it happen before), please be very careful and take these scores with a pinch of salt.

Also remember so so many people lie on TSR, there are a lot of troll apart. dont get to disheartened if you see amazing scores on this thread, most people who score lower wont post their scores.

(Original post by Natalierm2707)
I see where you think this may be a really good idea, but it will be in no way representative of the population taking the UKCAT worldwide and hence may lead to inflated averages and candidates underestimating their average scores (ive seen it happen before), please be very careful and take these scores with a pinch of salt.

Also remember so so many people lie on TSR, there are a lot of troll apart. dont get to disheartened if you see amazing scores on this thread, most people who score lower wont post their scores.

Thank you! I got a score of 730 but was getting very worried that this year would have a ridiculously high average so that is very reassuring to hear